Saturday, May 29, 2010

If you're hooked on digital scrapbooking or just want a way to "fancy up" your iPhone photos, you'll be happy to know that eScrap has an app for that. With build in templates and packaged themes, eScrap is available for $1.99 at the App Store.

I downloaded it about a week ago. Although I haven't a chance to play around with the different papers, embellishments and other tools, I have created a few pages with the built in templates. Since it's Pink Saturday around here, naturally I was drawn to pictures of my two favorite Pink Ladies.

Lauren

Lucy

Once you've created your page, you can share it on Facebook or Twitter, save it to your photo library where you can use is as your iPhone background, or email it to anyone you'd like.

Happy scrapbooking, and Happy Birthday, especially to Beverly, who celebrates the second birthday of Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Thanks once again to Cheri for hosting Sunday Favorites where we get to share a favorite post from the past. Since it's almost time for the Cahaba Lily Festival, I thought I'd repost something I did last year about this same time along with a follow up. When you're finished here, be sure to head over to Happy to Design to read other Sunday Favorites.

So many of you had questions about the pictures of the Cahaba lily that I posted for last week’s Wordless Wednesday that I decided a follow up with words is in order.

Hymenocallis coronaria is the proper name for the plant that is commonly known as the Cahaba lily. The name comes from the Cahaba River, the longest free-flowing river in Alabama.

In the Cahaba and Little Cahaba Rivers, the seeds from the Cahaba lily nestle in the crevices of the rocky shoals where they grow and bloom from mid-May to mid-June. In Georgia and South Carolina, the lilies are often referred to as the Shoal lily.

The Cahaba Lily Festival is celebrated each year in West Blocton, Alabama, on the last Saturday in May, which will be May 30th this year. My friend Becky and I dragged our husbands to the festival one year, where I took the pictures that I posted on Wordless Wednesday and that are posted here.

To get up close and personal with the lilies, we had to wade into the river. Here's Becky wading out to a stand of lilies. Be advised that the river bed is not only rocky but also covered in lots of little snails, so a good pair of water shoes or old tennis shoes is a must.

The three-inch wide white flowers have six long, narrow parts that surround the corona. They have been mistaken for the Swamp lily, which likes moist or boggy soil in a forest setting.

The flowers begin to open late in the day and then begin to wither in the heat of the following day. Although many botanist consider the lily to be endangered, it is not protected by the state or federal governments. Admirers are strongly discouraged from poaching the lily as this will further endanger it, and it will not live outside its native shoals environment.

If you’d like to read more about the Cahaba lily, please visit the website by clicking HERE.

And now for Part II.

A few weeks ago, I bought my first digital SLR camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Wanting to learn as much as I could about all of its modes and functions and particularly how to operate it in manual mode, I signed up for a four-week photography class at Birmingham School of Photography.

This week we had our first shooting assignment, and I spent all week anticipating it. LBeau and I would pack a picnic lunch, head down to West Blocton, and I would once again get up close and personal with the beautiful white lilies. I awoke to blue skies on Saturday morning, and shortly afterward I received a text message from my friend Karen, whose husband owns a grocery in West Blocton. "The lilies are blooming."

Shortly after turning off of Bibb County Highway 24 at the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge, we got our first glimpse of the river. It was not a pretty sight. Swollen from recent rains, the river was swift and muddy. I wouldn't be needing that extra pair of tennis shoes and socks, because I wouldn't be getting into the river on this day. Oh well, I'd just have to take my photos from the bank.

Arriving at the site of the first stand of lilies about a mile down the road, it was apparent that wouldn't be happening either. See these poor lilies struggling to keep their heads above water. This is one of about three clumps of plants we could see. The rest were obviously under water.

I still needed some pictures from my Tuesday night class. How about this abandoned car seat?

Or maybe this pile of trash that some inconsiderate hikers had left beside an old tree.

I did find a couple of fishermen enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I'm not sure how well the fish were biting, however. That blue dot floating down the river appeared to be a nice cooler that some canoeist must have lost when he/she overturned in the river.

Speaking of canoeists, these girls were working on their tans while navigating the river currents.

On the way back to the car, I climbed the side of a hill to get this picture of some moss covered boulders and oak leaf hydrangeas. I was rewarded with a tick.

Let's just hope the weather cooperates this week and the river subsides for next weekend's Cahaba Lily Festival. I won't be able to make it, so I guess I'll be waiting another year to get up close again with the lilies.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

My mother gave me this beautiful old chamber pot when I visited her last week. It belonged to her grandmother, Grandmother Belin, who lived in Warren, Arkansas.

"Grandmother Belin always called it the thunder pot," Mother said.

A little research told me that "thunder pot" was a common term for a chamber pot. When a home lacked indoor plumbing, the "thunder pot" was placed under the bed and used at night as a urinal.

I love the pink roses that decorate both sides of the chamber pot.

This mark on the bottom indicates that it was made by Revere China in Akron, Ohio. Since Revere China closed in 1908, my chamber pot is more than 100 years old.

So far I haven't been able to find any more information on Revere China chamber pots, so I have no idea how much it might be worth. I am assuming these were fairly common, although I did read about some chamber pots that were used in Britain during World War II that had pictures of the Kaiser on the inside. The are said to be highly collectible.

I've found the perfect place to display it on the dresser in my "girlie" room. The pictures are of my grandparents, Grancy and Poosie. Grandmother Belin was Grancy's mother.

For more lovely things in pink, be sure to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. And while you're browsing around, take time to leave a comment. Bloggers appreciate knowing you stopped by.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

I was just over visiting Between Naps on the Porch reading a fascinating post about the "Blue Hour," when I remembered some pictures I took on our trip to Chicago in March.

LBeau and I had just finished dinner and were walking along the river behind our hotel, when I noticed that the sky had a certain magical glow to it. It wasn't daylight, but it wasn't quite dark either, and somehow I knew I needed to take a picture. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the room. Afraid I would completely miss the show, I quickly snapped a couple of pictures with my iPhone.

Although the resolution isn't the sharpest, you can see the sky taking on a beautiful shade of blue.

Hoping to still capture the magic, I hurried back to the room for my camera. I'm afraid I missed the high point of the "Blue Hour," but I think this shot still gives you an idea of what it's all about.

To read more about the "Blue Hour," head on over to Between Naps on the Porch, where Susan is hosting Metamorphosis Monday. And to find out when the "Blue Hour" is in your neck of the woods, just click HERE to visit the "Blue Hour" website.

After posting this last night, I started remembering some other "Blue Hour" photos that I accidently captured. These are from our trip to London last November.

Big Ben

Parliament and the Thames River

The Tower Bridge

Now that I know what to look for, perhaps there will be more of these beautiful skies in my future. And with all of this blue going on, how could I not link up with Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.

About Me

I am the mother of three boys and the grandmother of a grandson and two granddaughters. Throw in a husband, and for the longest time I was outnumbered. However, with two wonderful daughters-in-law and the newest granddaughter, the pink team has finally caught up.
I taught school for 15 years, but now I build and remodel houses.
As you can probably tell, I'm a huge Arkansas Razorbacks fan. Woooooo Pig Sooiee!!